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Oh, the horror. The nights he’d spend waking continuously reminiscing the horrors he’d narrowly evaded. Eldritch Abomination made cute bubbly teenager Sofiya, if you’re Russian weirdness factor had yet to be made apparent, it had just now been made completely manifest.

JP would never **** with that girl again. Or attempt to **** that girl again. Any and all possible interpretation of such verb in relation to said girl would not be attempted again. There is no stressing this enough. No matter how perfect that little *** may be, it’s attached to the same body the most gruesome little mind JP’d ever met was. So, he told himself, remember this: do not even attempt to tap that, no matter how much vodka, tequila, beer or wine you ingest. Remember that, boy! For your own damn good!

It was with these grim thoughts weighting his mind and spirit that JP approached the usual meeting stadium. The one he’d been avoiding for close to two months now… He hadn’t been here since… When was the last time? Honestly, he couldn’t even remember. Neither could most everyone else, most likely. That made this appearance even more important. THIS was his official return to the group; it demanded something awesome, a big, memorable entrance that would remind everyone of how badass he was.

Sadly, he couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t completely ridiculous by the time he entered the stadium. Damn feet having a mind of their own, not letting his brain come up with a plan… Though, in hindsight, it was probably a good thing that JP’s body didn’t trust the decisions his brain made. After all, the thing had had a pretty lousy track record already. Instead, the body directed the decision making to JP’s instincts, who, in turn, just said one thing: “Use your charm, JP.”

And so he did.

With the poster case concealing the sword strapped to his back and the small white sheathed dagger hidden inside JP’s trademark leather biker jacket he marched in, each step powerful and confidant. His stride was that of a leader, and his posture was one of defiance. He’d arrived a bit late it seemed, but everyone seemed to be just getting started. From what he gathered, they seemed to be demonstrating their roles and strengths to Jones.
“Oh, sweet,” he whispered, seeing the perfect opportunity to show off being presented to him on a silver platter.

“I’m the biggest hard hitter here,” he said, addressing the man but making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone. This was much more a statement of his power and hierarchical position than anything. “I usually hit with a combination of my sword skills or martial arts prowess. If I’m disarmed, I can defend myself pretty well, and I have this dagger here as a secondary weapon that really lets me be creative with some of my finishing blows. It also nudges itself quite nicely in between the masks or the armor pieces of some Shadows.

“My Persona is like me, but bigger, faster and much more powerful. It’s a giant knight of a sort, and it carries a sword that is three times my side and pretty much my width, and he can swing it like its nothing. It’s also got some buffing and darkness aligned spells, but those are mostly situational.”

He set the poster case down and removed Wulfgard’s sword from inside it.
“Care for a demonstration?”

Jones? Seriously? I totes knew Wulfgard was hiding something, so obvs! 10.30? I'll try for 11.30, how's that? Love you xxxxxx
PS. I will never forgive you for ruining the moment I was having :D xxxxxx
PPS. Girls' Night is sooooo cancelled xxxxxx

Miyuki read over the text once again as she sat on her bed doing something she hadn't done in quite a long time. She was cuddling one of her larger plushies, a penguin half her size in a top hat and monocle, and up until she had received Ciara's reply she had been enjoying some new game show on TV.

She had ruined a moment? Miyuki frowned and hugged the gentlemanly penguin a little tighter. That was exactly the opposite of what she wanted to do! And now Ciara had gone and canceled Girl's Night. Was she mad? But there was a smiley there... was it for her or was she smiling because of the moment? Darn it Ciara, why did you have to be so hard to read sometimes? Ciara enjoyed messing with her, that had to be it.

Miyuki almost typed up a reply, but then another thought hit her. What if Ciara was having another moment RIGHT NOW. Would she ever forgive her for interrupting her twice? No, better to just not risk it and ask her about things later. Operation: Cupid's Arrow wasn't going to fail on her watch. Besides, unless her plan worked way too good, she'd run into Ciara at the special meeting tonight, which was another concern.

Miyuki fell over sideways, her hair flying out in all directions as she hit her bed, the penguin still in her arms. It had been a little while since she'd had a haircut, so her hair actually went past her shoulders now. If she had her hood on right now her hair would probably be brushing on her neck or trapped in a fold, but her jacket was currently tossed in the corner. She never wore her hoodie in her room.

The TV droned on in the background, but the situation with the meeting tonight was occupying her full attention now. So Jones knew about everything now, that much was certain. And the whole thing with Wulfgard-sensei... Why hadn't any of that been made known to them before now? Was he worried they would repeat his group's mistakes? Was he worried they weren't strong enough yet? Was it his fault that they had lost friends, or would have more people have died if he had told them sooner?

And then there was Shinai's friend, Amissa. There was something odd about that girl. She seemed nice enough, but... Miyuki couldn't put her finger on it exactly. Something just seemed... amiss.

Miyuki sighed. There was so much they didn't know. Every time she thought she was starting to figure things out, more surprises revealed themselves. Hopefully they would learn more in tonight's Court. And hopefully that knowledge wouldn't have too steep a price.

-+-+-+-+-

~ Bellow High Stadium - Night ~

Miyuki arrived at the stadium to find it decked out for what looked like another combat training session. Only difference this time was that her homeroom teacher was present. No, not just present. He stood there with authority, like he had every right to be here. His stance and presence was no less than that of Wulfgard's. Just what all did Mr. Jones have hidden up his sleeves?

Jones was drilling everyone on their strengths and weaknesses, whihc to Miyuki meant he was probably going to be leading tonight's little lesson. She wondered... if Mr. Jones got dragged into the court as well, then was he going to awaken to a Persona? And if so, then what would it be? She couldn't help but remember some of the crazy tales from his lessons and the characters that populated them.

Finally, her turn came. Mr. Jones wanted to know about her abilities in battle, as well as that of her Persona and the strategies they used. Miyuki, sadly didn't have a lot to fall back on in either regard. She was more or less entirely dependent on Astraea for protection... May as well start off with her strong points.

"My Persona is best suited to a support role." Miyuki said. If felt so weird to be talking about this stuff with a teacher who until just yesterday she was supposed to hide this from. It took a little getting used to. She tugged at her hood a bit. "She's got a strong light magic attack as well as a few defensive abilities. She can block physical attacks and cure any clouded emotions, and even slow enemies down. And she can detect lies, so when we deal with Shadow Selves they can't trick us as easily..."

She started fidgeting. "But... other than Astraea, I just carry this shield." She held up her now scratched and dented shield. The little disk of metal had saved her life more than once, but it wasn't much good for attacking. "I'm not so good with blades or anything, so I carry this to protect myself. I have to rely on my Persona to attack, but Astraea is well rounded. She can adapt to any situation."

It was about eight o'clock, and Halberd had just left the drugstore with a small bag, containing various essential items and also three non-essential ones (or maybe they are essential, depending on how you view it): a birthday card for Ciara and two "get well soon" cards for Clarise and Terri. As he walked away, he took another glance inside the window at the checkout cashier, whom he had just told he was getting these cards for three girls at school. He remembered the guy laughing and asking him if he was some sort of pimp or something, to which Halberd had jokingly replied, "Do you honestly think a guy in a skirt could ever be a ladies' man?"

He began to head back to his car, ready to drive back to Bellow High in time for Court training, when something caught his eye. It was a store, just a couple of doors down from the drugstore. A store that looked exactly like the kind of place Terri would shop at regularly, with all its gothic-themed clothing and jewelry and the perky heavy metal music playing in the background. But there was something specific in this store that caught Halberd's eye, something that looked a little out of place in this store even. The second he laid eyes on its bright amber surface, he knew...

Yes. Ciara will absolutely love this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bellow High Stadium
Night

Halberd arrived just in time for practice, dressed pretty much the same as he was before, except with his long battle coat on, as if he was actually going to fight shadows in the Court now. The coat just barely concealed the hilt of his rapier as he walked over to where the other Court-goers were gathered. After a quick look around, he decided to stand right next to Joshua, for such was his best hope of actually interacting with him lately. And also, he looked around at the stadium floor, where there were the standard training dummies scattered about. These were less satisfying to attack than actual Shadows, Halberd had to admit, but at least they didn't run the risk of injury or Apathy Syndrome if things went wrong this way.

Testa started off the session by asking everyone about their fighting style. An odd question, Halberd thought, given the number of training sessions they'd had before and how much of a chance the teachers had had to observe everyone's style. He thought a showcase or something might have been a better option, but he decided to go with this anyway. At least it was interesting to hear about everyone describing themselves and their Personae all of a sudden. And he could tell everyone's attitudes showed as they explained everything. Ciara sounded as confident and feisty as ever, Snow and Sigmund sounded more calm and level-headed, and Miyuki sounded modest yet seemed to know what she was talking about. And JP was outright arrogant, his role as the big guns of this outfit being as plain as the muscles on his buff physique.

Wow, guess he's back to his old self, Halberd thought as he shook his head.

And then Joshua described his role as a supporter and also a competent swordsman if necessary. And then, in classic Joshua fashion, he ended it with saying that he didn't have as much power or skill as some of the others. Immediately after he stopped, Halberd placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's not about being the strongest or most skilled," he said to him, "but about being satisfied with the skills you have. And I personally have seen how much skill you have with that sword."

Naturally, Joshua seemed rather sheepish at this, and thus went over to talk to Snow instead. More people announced what they could do, and then it was apparently Halberd's turn.

"Well, I too prefer direct attacks over magic, obviously," Halberd began. "Scathach has a bit of darkness magic and a healing spell, which helps in a tight spot, but other than that we're both melee fighters, and we work best when we fight together. I myself am more suited to power and defense than speed and agility, and I usually do best against other ground-based physical attackers like those bears from last night. Although I carry no shield, I'm pretty good at blocking and maneuvering around other melee weapons with my own sword. When up against a very powerful Shadow I can't fight on my own, I stand guard and carry people to safety if necessary, while Scathach fends the enemy off."

Lace was fanning herself and breathing hard into the table trying to cool down. Her eyes started watering and her tongue was a dark red. There wasn't enough in that bottle to put out this fire. She squeezed her fists in her seat and tried her best to keep a straight face with the others, but couldn't hold out. Just as Sigmund and Halberd left out Lace launched out her seat and had her head under the kitchen faucet. "Spicy shrimp with peas and corn," Lace said, her face and arms now resting in the sink. She pushed herself up and splashed water in her blood-red eyes stumbling out the kitchen.

She jerked away from Russell's table and picked up speed running towards the stairs. "Sorry!" she shouted to him, still rubbing her eyes. "I'll see you at the stadium Russell!" Lace had a good layout of the dorm in her head and didn't need to see where she was going -- mostly. The door slammed shut behind her and hangers, shirts, books, and everything else started to whirl around her room in a rush.

Outside, Lace was halfway to the stadium. She had clear eyes and a dry winter outfit; yellow beanie, a red sleeveless-jacket with a loose yellow shirt, dark pants and white boots. Her daggers swung around her neck in a strap she'd made in the dorm. The stadium grew into view as Lace stopped to look at the moon, rubbing her mittens together. Her leg was good enough to move on thanks to Snow's magic, but this wasn't something she needed to make a habit of. "Hope everyone d-dressed up tonight," Lace stuttered as she sneezed her way down. "Why do we have to do this in November? AAAGH!"

Bellow High Stadium (Late-Evening)

Wulfgard and one of the other teachers were with the others. Lace stopped at the gate rubbing her hands as she glanced at the group. "Least I'm not the last one in." She shuffled into the group and spotted Mr. Testa. She paced feverishly back and forth as Ciara and the others told him their skills. Come on, come on...

"I stand guard and carry people to safety if necessary, while Scathach fends the enemy off," Halberd finished.

"That guy must store his fat in the spring, I know it," she mumbled coming up to the teacher. "H-Hello!" She raised her hand in front of him and placed the other over her mouth. "Sorry, teeth're chattering'. Okay!" She buffed up and spun her neck around letting the daggers fly up before catching the strap in her hand. "I got really powerful fire magic and I love just getting' in close with the enemy, real close, with -- these!" she spread out her arms with a dagger turned down in each hand. "I'm not a big hard-hitter like the others are up close, but I'm definitely the fastest!’Cuz when I build up enough speed it won't matter how big they are," she said, thrusting her fist in the air. "I'll run tornadoes around them and kick 'em into next week at a thousand miles 'n hour!"

She lowered her arm and gave Testa a quick nod before moving out. She felt hot and ready for tonight and couldn't keep still. Halberd finished up his talk and Lace quickly made her way over to him. She snuck up right behind him, gently grabbed both of his shoulders and shook him awake. “It’s almost winter, Cap’n Hal!” she let out in his ear before swinging around to face him. “You got a minute?”

Last edited by Vivian_Bloom; 25th January 2013 at 5:00 AM.

On Army-Training Leave:

I'll be gone from Serebii/Internet from Sept 10th - Dec 15/16th. If you want to contact me, send a PM by the first of September. Coolio!

Shortly after Lace gave Jones her... enthusiastic exposition on her abilities, another of the students from his homeroom walked up to him. Randy... something or other. Crownwall? Coppenheimer? He should remember this, didn't he come to his house earlier in the year to talk to Wulfgard? Well, now he knew what that was really about.

“Randy.” Testa acknowledged his approach, giving a small curt nod and a smile. Randy returned the gesture. The boy seemed as if he had already had a good workout that night. He had slung his jacket over his shoulder, his own body heat keeping him warm in the November air. Testa could even see the sweat stain on his tees' pits.

“So, Randy, what can you do?”

“Well, sir, I'm not really sure about that.”

Wait. Something seemed familiar here.

“I haven't really been able to pick up a fighting style like everyone else. I've used a shovel... and I think it's doing alright, but it's not really an art. I kinda swing it around until what ever I'm fighting isn't moving anymore. Persona wise... it's kinda random. I don't just have one like everyone else here. He kinda changes depending on the situation. I think I've racked up three so far.”

“Well... I think I have an idea.” Jones began. “But I'd have to see you in action first.”

Randy gave a quick nod and walked over to the rest of the group, giving JP a quick punch on the arm. Next in line was a student he often saw trailing after Randy. He was pretty sure he was in Halls' homeroom.

“M-Mr. Jones.” The kid stuttered for a second, the quickly picked himself up. Unlike Randy, he seemed to be perfectly affected by the cold, huddling up in his blue jacket. A pair of goggles was pulled over his eyes, and light poured from their lenses. Upon looking up at Jones, he had to turn away from the blinding flash.

“S-sorry. I used them to come over.” He quickly pressed a button on the side, and the light dimmed away to nothing. “Anyway, I'm not so much for combat. If I have to, I have this-”

Izzy reached into the drawstring bag he was carrying over his back and pulled out a grey and silver contraption the size of a football.

“It's a pneumatic stake. It's like a miniature jackhammer. It's not very powerful, and takes a lot of electricity to power, but it can pierce the armor of most of the shadows. You know... if I have to.”

Testa's intrest was peaked.

“I thought Garret said things that run on electricity didn't work during this Court. How do you-”

“Oh, right. During the Court I kinda... produce electricity?” Izzy explain, cautiously, acting almost as if Testa would get angry at him. “I guess it's my Persona. Lately, I've been trying to fuel walkie talkies for everyone to use, but the charge doesn't last long. I almost have to be holding it all the time for it to be useful.”

Well, that was good to know. But his lack of a real combat skill was... no, he couldn't think like that. These were kids. They were still in High School. He really shouldn't be trying to push them to fight. But, it was for their survival.
He'd probably have to see how this Persona thing worked first. All the kids were talking about it, but it was still a foreign concept to him. Admittedly, it was a bit too far fetched for him to truly believe. Until he saw it again with his own eyes, part of him still thought this maybe an elaborate prank.

During his pondering, Izzy seemed to have scampered off. He was standing about five feet behind Miyuki, and looking around like a lost puppy. Yeah. They were still kids.

“Hey, Garret, is that everyone?”Testa asked, pulling a new box of cigarettes out of his pocket. Popping one into his mouth, he pulled out a lighter and quickly set the tip to burn. It was cold and windy, the wind was facing away from the kids. This should be fine.

“No. We're still missing Liza, and Levin. Come to think of it, I didn't see Levin today in the meeting.”

Well, that probably wasn't good. Maybe he was just sick? But even that could be dangerous if what Garret was telling him was true.

He didn't have to wait long for Liza. He definitely recognized her, when she strolled into the stadium, comfortable in the weather with her jacket. She'd been working as Garret's assistant during final period for a while now. And with how often he went and bothered him, he'd seen plenty of her.

She stopped and talked to Izzy for a second before finally walking by Jones.

“So, Liza-”

“In all due respect sir, I find this idea of putting us in pairs to train completely different skills asinine. But go ahead. I don't fight. Not in the physical sense anyway. Do as you will.”

It was like her words drilled into his soul. She didn't change her tone while speaking, but he could just feel the intent, even beyond the loaded words... she was not in the mood for this. What had she been doing before hand?
-

Not too long after Liza's shutdown, Testa walked into the equipment room, and came out with a large box. Placing it on the ground, he began to do what he had set out to do.

“Alright, I'd like to see you guys pair up now! Keep in mind this isn't just for tonight. This is a long term thing. I don't expect this training to just work in an hour. Lace, you're with Randy. I want you two to get some laps in. Lace is, from what I hear, more spry than you are, Randy, so just try to catch up. This is mostly stamina practice for you though, Lace. Don't go easy on him.

Next, Sigmund, you're with Miyuki. I'm not sure if you're used to the mitts, Miyuki-” Testa began, he dug in the box and pulled out two cushioned circle pads with belt grips. “,You put one on each hand and where you move them, Sigmund is supposed to punch. You have to keep your arms strong and steady though. Don't give in. Sigmund, I want you to wear real boxing gloves for this. It's good for weight training, and protecting your hands.”

“Halberd, you're working with Wulfgard. It'll be sparring with wooden swords. Don't be afraid to go all out on him... you'll need to if you want to land a hit. He might look like a goof, and smell like a goof, but he's been working with that thing for a long time.”

“Ciara, I want you working with Snow. But mostly, you'll be training him. If he's not suited for fighting close range, I don't want him getting hit. Focus on acrobatics. We don't really have equipment for complex stuff, but at least get him on a stretching regimen.”

For Sofiya, Testa simply looked at her, remembering how she acted when talking to him. He simply pointed towards Russell and ordered “Whip him into shape, Commander.”

“Izzy, you'll be working with Mana. Help him retrieve his arrows. If you don't have anything to do, run a few laps. Don't just sit around.”

“Josh, you're with JP. If you're both new to being swordsmen, I want you to work together here. But first, I need to talk to JP, if he doesn't mind. It's about something he said earlier today.”

“And Liza-” Testa began, looking around until he fixed eyes on her. She stared at him for a few seconds, her expression unchanging. “Just, uh, keep up the good work”

-

(OOC: Alright guys, get to training! I know Sofiya, Mana, and Russell didn't actually introduce themselves, so I worked with it how I could. JP, Testa's asking you about what you saw with Shinai the night before, he basically asks you to elaborate on your outburst.
Any other questions, ask them in the DT.)

WARNING!GM is prone to going for the throat. Poke at own risk. Continued poking or complaining in his presence may result in serious character injury or death. You have been warned.

“Yeah, better now than in a month or two when it starts really getting cold.” Was Sigmund comment after Halberd. That didn’t really bother him really that was the reason they made hats and he a bunch of those to keep him warm through the wintertime. Russell had already taken a sip of the tea before Halberd suggestion for a toast Halberd said his then Sigmund, though Russell had nothing to add. There really wasn’t much for him too add even though there was sometimes they learn about the court they were still stun lock and couldn’t take out a special shadows without some kind of causality. So even if they knew how to help the one with Apathy Syndrome, would they really be able to do anything about it? The freshman was just being realistic though it felt like he was just pessimistic.

“That's it - I was gonna go visit, ah, the girls in the hospital sometime in the next couple days. Probably tomorrow, before Ciara's thing. You guys wanna come?” Sigmund statement pulled him out of his train of thought. He looked at the two of them and thankfully he didn’t forget about his food. Going to the party hosted by Ciara after visiting the Hospital tomorrow… That just left the redhead to think; it wasn’t that he didn’t care or even that he didn’t know them well enough but because this all took place in the middle of the week. He spent most of his weekdays worrying about school related stuff so his grades wouldn’t suffer. Also was the fact he was not the biggest fan of Ciara. He tended to avoid being near her; and the feeling seem to be mutual. Lace joined him with food, she seem all for the visit to the hospital. Halberd seemed to show an interest in going to Ciara party, mentioning it to be her birthday. Was she really doing that, she really didn’t seem like the type that care.

Halberd excused himself from the group then Sigmund, leaving the two redhead freshman sitting there for a moment. They actually didn’t get much of a conversation in before Lace exited herself leaving him alone in the lounge. He really wasn’t feeling his best today but he still had work to do. Days like this made him wish the Court took a holiday.

At Bellow High Stadium: A bit late

The three shadow court proved to have been too rough for him. Russell was late get to the stadium as he fell asleep doing homework and awakened fairly late in the night… It might have been the adding hours of missed sleep over the months but whatever the reason he was late and that seriously bothered him. Next thing he knows he’ll be sleeping through classes and his grades would drop down to B’s and C’s. That was one thing he could not let happened. Finally arriving to the Stadium, everyone was there already… Was that JP, even frickin’ JP was here before him? This couldn’t be happening now.

“Must be more tired than I thought, I seeing JP” He lifted his glasses and gave his eyes a rub, and sure enough he was still there. This would be the first time in two months since he appear at one of their group meetings. He almost seemed like same overconfident, jerk that threaten him day one. Wasn’t this night special? Testa asked about his way of attacking; it didn’t seem like it was helping much anyway against anything major. “I attack close range with an axe typically though I do occasionally use a rapier. I’m not really that strong… My persona Eros is good at long range attacking, he uses wind magic and he occasional ‘turns’ enemies into allies and fight for us. He’s not all that strong either.”

After that everyone was paired up and who had he gotten, Sofiya. He didn’t hold any ill feeling toward the foreign girl, it just she kind of in some general area as Lace. As in, they were both on their on separate planet. The girl just wasn’t the type of person he generally went to for a chat… Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any repeated actions of last night; he would like his nuts to remain unsmashed. Though where this was going was a mystery, since she supposed to ‘whip him into shape.’ Somehow he felt like this wasn’t going to end well.

“So…what do you want me to do?” Russell asked since it seemed he was supposed to do whatever she told him to do. Sofiya was a bit of a change from his usual people to hang around; she was close to his height while most of the others tower over him. Though he could tell she was still a little taller… The freshman stood at a kind of attention waiting for her to get him started.

Let's eat Grandma!
Let's eat, Grandma!
Commas saves lives.

Say hello to Rascal, he is a naughty little Articuno but he wants to be a true adventurer one day. Feed him lots of spicy berries and help him grow big and stronger.

During tests people look:
Up for inspiration
Down in desperation
Left and right for information

<OOC> Pfft, I still can't write. On the other hand, first post in months. Yay.

Mana Shizuko
Auld lang syne

They say that repeated exposure to trauma numbs you to the effects. Seeing that ‘they’ were most often correct, the mention of imminent shotgun castration elicited only a raised eyebrow and a noncommittal grunt from one Mana Shizuko. Of course, Captain “Soon-to-be-lacking-in” Manhood was not quite as calm. In fact, he became possessed with supernatural dexterity, parkour-leaping over several hapless schoolchildren to pin Mana against the wall, screaming terrified obscenities.

Charming.

Of course, no one asked JP about the situation. Nope, even the braver louts weren’t quite so brave as to needle an angry, six-plus foot berserker. Nope, they came to him. Some contented themselves with inquisitive looks, others had words. It was as if they had never seen a girl threaten to castrate someone with a shotgun before. With a sigh, Mana began to wade through the student body.

“I assure you that our relationship is strictly platonic… dude, that’s not what platonic means.”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll get that homework assignment in. No, I won’t be too busy, ah, playing with JP.”

“Yes, I look glorious in a minidress. Now go away unless you want to end up a pincushion… goddammit, that’s not what I meant.”

Mana pushed out onto the grounds, leaving his bemused classmates behind. He took in a breath of cold, fresh air. After finding his car and struggling with the door for a moment, Mana slipped inside and quickly locked himself in. He collapsed into the driver’s seat, muttering, “I am so sorry, Josh.”

***

Nighttime
For meeting lovers

A delightful Q&A was going on at the arena, with Quarterman Jones as the ringleader. While Mana found it rather unlikely that the man could know more about combat than their own Wulfgard-Sensei, it couldn’t possibly hurt.

Everyone described their combat skills in more or less detail. JP’s masculine posturing brought a sly grin to Mana’s face. “Oh yes, darling, demonstrate,” Mana drawled. “You know how much I love it when you swing that big sword of yours.”

And then it was his turn to share. “Hey all, my name is Mana and I haven’t had thoughts of self-harm for – nope, wrong support group. Er, I hunt things with a bow. Arrows can really screw over littler guys, but the bigger shadows seem to shrug off the shots pretty well. My Persona is Alice – she kills things too, via application of heavy-duty death and darkness nuking. We’re good at that.”

With that through, Testa paired them up, playing to their strengths. Sigmund’s offense to Miyuki’s defense; Halberd and Wulfgard’s swordsmanship; Josh and JP the same; Ciara getting Snow combat-ready; etc. Mana glanced at Izzy, his assigned partner. The poor kid looked frozen, though his goddamned flashlight eyes were probably producing enough heat to light his hair on fire.

Mana set his bow case aside, stretching slowly. “Yo Izzy! I’m sure you don’t want to retrieve arrows all night. Why don’t we get a little bit of sparring in? A little close-combat practice would help us both.”

Mr. Testa had considered their statements and split them all up into pairs for tonight's training exercises. Snow ended up training with Ciara, which made him briefly nervous. After all, she had been cold and harsh before (although not quite on the level her Shadow had been last night; maybe that's what she'd be like if she let that side go unrestrained). But he told himself that he'd try to get along with her. She was a part of the team too, and Josh really liked her so she couldn't be all that bad.

Since they were supposed to work on his ability to avoid hits (or even acrobatics?), the two of them went to a grassy area, out of the way of the other sparring groups (and Mana practicing with his bow). Ciara decided to start him off with an exercise that twisted the torso and stretched the far arm across to chest. “If we're going to help you dodge, then it's not only important to be quick on your feet,” she said. “You'll want to be flexible too so you can move exactly how you want. Especially in the core part of your body, it's good to build a strong core first.”

“Okay,” Snow said. Deciding to try talking and being friendly, he added, “I didn't know you were into gymnastics.”

“Just a bit, but my instructor would drill that kind of information into our heads,” she said. She paused for a moment, then chuckled before going back to stretching. “Oh, but this is hilarious.”

“What's hilarious?” he asked, puzzled. He glanced around the field, but nothing particularly funny stood out to him.

“Right now. If I was to tell any other girl in school that I was out doing gymnastics with that guy Snow Fields, they'd be absolutely green with envy. Smoke coming out of their ears rage even.”

“Huh, why's that?” It didn't seem like anything to get jealous about, at least he thought so. Maybe she was just teasing him.

Ciara shrugged. “Isn't it obvious? Most of them have a crush on you. I'm surprised you haven't run into any stalkers.”

Stalkers... that reminded him of some rather scary stories he'd heard about people being obsessive over stars like his mother, doing anything from digging through trash or learning a person's schedule to get closer to them. “I hope I don't have any stalkers,” he said, shivering at the thought.

“No need to be humble about it,” Ciara said. “Or serious. Come on, we can have fun with this even if it is practice for the serious stuff.”

Snow raised an eyebrow. True, he didn't know her all that well, but it seemed odd to hear that from her. “Sure, but... you seem a bit odd tonight. I mean, I don't mean anything bad about it's just...”

“Don't worry about it, kid,” she said, snapping a finger. “I am on a mission to be a better and more fun person, so I'm going to get you in shape and make you smile. Got it?” She even briefly struck a post, one which could be easily imagined with some dramatic sound effect flourish.

He ended up laughing at that, which made him stop with the stretching exercise. “Sure! That's a good thing.”

Ciara put her hands on her hips. “Of course, how much I'm joking and how much I'm serious is up to others to decide. Now let's get back to the work-out, on the double!”

“Yes, m'am,” Snow said, happy that this was going to be more lighthearted than he expected.

Still, he hoped she was exaggerating about the stalkers...

posted with Wordy's approval.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

"Okay, this guy knows what he's dealing with it!" Lace said, before seating herself on the ground and tightening her fist. "I'm going to be the team's eyes and legs! It's--," she snatched off her hat and ruffled her hair to think. She breathed in the cold air and tried for ten-seconds an excersize she'd read about in the library.

- Take a few deep breaths and let the tension flow out of your body. Count from "one" to "ten" in a steady rhythm.

"Alright, I'd like to see you guys pair up now!" Wulfgard? Lace had her head tilted back and poked an eye out over at the samurai. She scrambled up and looked over at Randy with a wide smile. She'd get to run with the captain! It took a second to jog over.

"Oh, Randy! What's up, bossman?" she raised her hand up to high-five and hung it. "I'm not on the track team, but I do want to start running, especially at night when everyone else is knocked out asleep!" she inched closer to his face and cupped her mouth in his ear. "I'm tellin' you 'cuz you're the Persona-guy, but, you see that street lamp over there?" she pointed over his shoulder, "bet if I skate into it with Saturnus and stretch my hand out I can whirl up to the top of that pole and shoot off over the gym gate!"

Lace backed a bit and nodded for herself and Randy's approval before resting her arm. "We can do that after laps." She kneeled on the track. Come on and get next to me!"

Last edited by Vivian_Bloom; 15th February 2013 at 3:03 AM.

On Army-Training Leave:

I'll be gone from Serebii/Internet from Sept 10th - Dec 15/16th. If you want to contact me, send a PM by the first of September. Coolio!

Kata forms were designed to practice the body's movement without being overly strenuous - great for most martial arts. The problem was, to Sigmund's knowledge, none of them were designed with two-pound gauntlets in mind. And while two pounds doesn't sound like a lot, having it strapped to each arm really changes your movements, so much so that by the time that Testa called the group in, all Sigmund felt that he had accomplished was replacing his arms with lead posts.

Sigmund gathered around the others, and looking around found everyone to be present, including JP1 but sans Levin2. Testa wasted no time into placing them all into apparently calculated match-ups so that they could get the most from each other, the second of which being:

"Sigmund, you're with Miyuki. I'm not sure if you're used to the mitts, Miyuki -" Testa declared, giving Miyuki a quick rundown of how to use punching mitts before turning to him and adding, "Sigmund, I want you to wear real boxing gloves for this. It's good for weight training, and protecting your hands."

Sigmund clenched his teeth and nodded. He had just worked on his weighted movements - his gauntlets even weighed more than standard boxing gloves - but sure, he could go along with more of that. Still, Testa had just given him directions to start punching an underclassman who was about two-thirds of his weight, most of a foot shorter than he was, and worst of all, a girl. Even if she was used to using a shield, there was a difference between that and just an bit of padding on her hand, as evidenced by how uneasily she was moving them around already. It would be a small miracle if he didn't end up spraining her wrists.

But it wasn't his decision. Take a deep breath, Siggy boy, he told himself. He'd just just have to go really light on the punches. Testa knew what he was doing, from the sound of it. Sigmund nabbed a pair of boxing gloves from Testa's box and headed off to the spot on the inside of the track where his bag was sitting.

"So, eh, keep a wide stance and, um, lemme know if I'm comin' on too strong," he said to Miyuki as he strapped on his padded gloves.

"Like this?" Legs spread and a bit staggered, hands braced, she had it pretty much down, or at least as well as he could expect her to. Taking a loose stance with his hands held staggered in front of his chest, Sigmund looked back at the girl to check that she was ready. Ready for him to start throwing punches. Crap. All of the match-ups he had been given in the school club were against guys. He was mentally unprepared to be fighting a girl. Already his mother was nagging at him from the back of his head.

Boy, you ever lay hand on a woman and I'll see you get it back double.

No, he told himself, aiming his first jab just a second after Miyuki had moved the pads into place.. This was different. She was protected, and it wasn't even serious or in anger, and-

Oh God oh God I can't do this.

His arm stopped short, just bumping against the circle pad. Almost quicker than he had thrown the punch, he withdrew his arm and dropped his gaze. Dammit. He couldn't look at her in the face while he did this. This time staring intently at the mitt, he tried again with his opposite hand, but he could still see her arm behind the circle pad. Stick-thin, completely breakable. This time, his arm went completely rigid within the first foot. Sigmund's eyes jumped back to Miyuki, who was just staring back, utterly confused. Of course she is - I'm seizing up like an idiot.

"Sorry, just let me... get my bearings," Sigmund asked, nibbling at his own lip and burying his eyes in his gloves. Miyuki made an affirmative answer - he didn't catch it, but it was enough to know that she wasn't suffering from some sort of second-hand embarrassment. Which she had good reason to. Not being able to fight her would be one thing, but boxing drills? This was just kinda sad. Knocking his head against his fists, he wracked his brain for a good way around her.

"Hey, is this okay?" he heard her ask.

"Nah, you're doing fine," he answered, not even bothering to look. Doing so would just help put her face on those mitts.

Maybe he should give 'em a different face?

Worth a shot. With a quick hand motion signaling that he was ready to continue, Sigmund resumed his first position and waited for Miyuki to brace her arms again. As she did, Sigmund locked on to the circle pad - only the pad. Not even a pad. In his mind's eye, he superimposed over it the image of a shadow - the first one that jumped to mind, one of the shadow bears from last night. He gave the beast a good pop on the nose - not a full strike, just enough to make it back off. Pleasantly, it did just that, retreating, though another one came up to take its place on the right. Catching it with a crossing blow from his left hand, he knocked it back, as well.

But they both just kept coming back, one after the other. Slowly, he started hitting them harder - giving them follow-up hits, a good hook across the snout to push them back. Driving them away every time, but never doing anything real damage. Like whack-a-mole, but with the shadows. He was already finding himself in a rhythm. Right, left, left, right, up-right, up-left, down-right, up-right. But obviously he wasn't applying enough pressure at this rate. Someone was saying something off to the side. Ignore it. He gave the left bear a straight-arm blow, sending it to the ground - letting out a very girlish and un-bearworthy3 scream. It just lay there, knocked out and... attached to an arm? Sigmund looked up and the pit of his stomach sank - he had successfully knocked one of Miyuki's arms completely away, it now hanging loosely at her side.

Oh God oh God I've sprained something.

"Jeez - sorry about that, you all right?" Sigmund asked, containing his panic to just reaching out with one of his gloved hands.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay," she assured him. Of course, she wasn't entirely - he had definitely just knocked her wrist sore with an hour to go until the court, judging by how gingerly it was moving now. Her right wrist, too. But she seemed to be able to move it all right, and was insisting on keeping going. Girl was sturdier than she looked. "Just, um, go a bit softer on me, please?" she requested, almost immediately correcting herself in turn to "just don't hit so hard," and "Never mind."

"Yeah, I'll, um, do that," he nodded. New goal: focus on her left arm this time, and for the love of God do not break anything. He wasn't about to completely shoot her down if she wanted to keep at it, though, even if her right elbow was wincing dangerously.

"If you're sure, five minutes. But then we're getting some ice on that," he said adamantly, motioning to her right arm. Getting back into a good pose, he started again, eyes completely focused on her left-hand mitt and starting back into a few lukewarm strikes.

1 Apparently he had arrived and started throwing his weight around while Sigumund was preoccupied. At least he was back to normal.2 Though, last night having been Levin's first Court night, he couldn't really blame the guy for bailing.3 Which, despite not being a word at all, was the best word Sigmund could think of at that exact moment.

“Eh, I'm not so sure about sparring... heh heh...” Izzy answered, looking slightly away from Mana a fake smile plastered on his face. He had no desire to ever fight up close with anyone. Especially Mana, who he still wasn't convinced was completely sane. Well, were any of them, really? They certainly weren't normal. They'd been touched by fear. They'd learned to fight to survive on a nightly basis.

Just this morning, a student's phone rang in the hallway on the way to class. Izzy jumped at the sound and dodged behind the nearest corner out of instinct. His peers thought it was normal Izzy behavior (or, as most of them knew him as, that Weedy Kid with the Headlights), and in a way they were right. While he didn't duck because of 'seeing a girl' (Honestly, he wasn't scared of women... just talking to them. Damn rumors...), he was running for his life. Like a rabbit. And, honestly, he'd like to keep it that way.

“How about I just... umm...” He glanced over at Mana and realized he had nothing. No way to actually get out of it, instead he sighed. “How about I just go get a training dagger.”

Randy Clopin

All he had to do was run, they said. It's with Lace they said. She's fun they said.

Yeah, all of that was true, but they didn't realize one little thing. He was bushed He's run across almost the whole city earlier in the afternoon. Was it necessary? Not completely, he could have gotten to the guys on time without sprinting. But it sure felt like it. After embarrassing himself and Liza in front of her father he just wanted to get away. He didn't even wait for Liza. She could handle herself.
Nope. He was OUT. He was still drenched in sweat, all the way to his tee shirt.

"I'm tellin' you 'cuz you're the Persona-guy, but, you see that street lamp over there?" Lace pointed over his shoulder to the nearest sidewalk lamp. But on another note, 'Persona guy'?

"Bet if I skate into it with Saturnus and stretch my hand out I can whirl up to the top of that pole and shoot off over the gym gate!"

...Alright, he needed a piece of that action. That sounded badass.

“You're on. You do it, you get my dessert at lunch tomorrow. But we're talking the top of the pole.” He smiled. It was nice to be able to just be carefree like this. Lace was a fun girl. He really didn't notice it too much in the Court... given the nature of it, but she was still all happy, regardless. It's a nice change of pace.

He strode over to where she was bent down and fixed himself into the same position. Hands on the ground, one foot popped back. He wasn't sure if it was completely up to form, but it was the best image of it he had in his mind.

“On your mark!-”

WARNING!GM is prone to going for the throat. Poke at own risk. Continued poking or complaining in his presence may result in serious character injury or death. You have been warned.

Miyuki fidgeted a bit with the mitts. They were heavier then they looked, and the balance of them felt weird. It was nothing like her shield. And she had two of them. That meant she couldn't brace with both arms like she did sometimes, but she had to work each arm individually. She gave a few practice motions with the mitts, moving them back and forth. They still felt awkward, but orders were orders.

Sigmund told her to get ready, to assume a wide stance, and to let him know if he was hitting too hard, which was very much a possibility.

A wide stance? "Like this?" she asked, her legs spaced out just a bit, one a bit behind the other, as if she were bracing to block an incoming Shadow with her trusty shield. Well, the stance helped her balance a bit. But... Sigmund was an actual boxer. She could tell just by looking at him that he knew what he was doing. "I, I think I'm ready." she said. Miyuki took a deep breath to steady herself. Okay, no problem. Just because Sigmund was a full fledged boxer, and just because he could light things on fire with his fists, didn't mean she couldn't handle this. But he did look a bit off... he was looking at her with a look of uncertainty. Of hesitation. Did she look that unprepared? She fidgeted with her stance again, adjusting this way and that, tugging on the mitts a bit until she felt a bit more... sturdy. "Okay." she said a bit hesitantly. "I'm ready now."

No sooner had Miyuki gotten her stance set than Sig readied a punch. She saw his arm start to rocket forward and braced herself, eyes closed, and felt only a light tap against the mitts, not even enough force to make her flinch. Either she was a lot tougher than she thought she was, or... She opened her eyes just in time to see Sig's second punch stop short.

"Yeah... sure, no problem." Miyuki said. Was she doing something wrong? Was it her stance? Was she holding the mitts the wrong way? She started fidgeting with everything again, just trying to make sure it was all okay... whatever okay looked like with this. She had never actually seen real boxing practice before. "Hey, is this okay?" she asked, checking her newly revised posture and position.

"Nah, you're doing fine," he answered, though he barely even glanced at her. Before she could protest, Sigmund motioned for her to get ready again and she instinctively ducked behind the pads. As she felt the next blow, there was no doubt it was a real punch. She flinched when it hit, but thankfully she held her ground. The mitt he hit was pushed back, so she pushed the other pad up to take its place, and it got hit just as quickly as the first one. This time harder. That one felt like a shadow attack. That must have been a real Sigmund-brand hit. She threw the other pad up, starting to get a feel for the rhythm. But so was Sigmund.

Every time she moved a pad back into position it got hit harder than the last time. She had managed to pick up the rhythm, but the speed was another problem entirely. Sig kept coming back harder and faster. After a few moments, it almost felt like she was having to block his punches, not the other way around as it had started out. "Umm..." she started to say, but Sig's rapid pace made it hard for her to think about anything but blocking. Left, right, left, right, faster, stronger, faster, stronger. He was building up speed and power at a rate that she didn't think she could keep up with. "Hey, Sig?" she started to say, just as she failed to get her arm completely rigid before the next blow. She let out a tiny squeal as her arm was batted away, the pad thankfully taking the brunt of the blow.

"Jeez - sorry about that, you all right?" Sigmund asked as he offered her a gloved hand.

Miyuki felt her arm. Her elbow was a bit sore, as was her wrist, but she was otherwise okay. Still, she couldn't take another hit like that. If she wasn't prepared again, she might actually get hurt. Which was definitely not a good thing to do right before a court. Miyuki nodded, and reached to take his hand before realizing that she still wore the over sized mitts. "Yeah, I think I'm okay." she tested her arm again, wincing just a bit as she spun her wrist. It was sore, but she didn't think it was injured. Thank her lucky stars she didn't use her right arm to hold her shield. She tried to hold out her arms again, but her right arm was a bit twitchy now, her elbow refusing to stay completely still.

"I can keep going." she said. Miyuki was a determined one. "Just, um, go a bit softer on me please? I mean, um, just don't hit so hard... no that's not right either." She took a deep breath. "Nevermind." She ducked behind the pads again. "Okay, let's go again. I can handle it."

"Yeah, I'll, um, do that," he nodded. Sig studied her for a moment, and just when she thought he was going to protest, he said, "If you're sure, five minutes. But then we're getting some ice on that."

"I'm sure, I can handle it." she said. She dug her feet a bit into the ground and braced herself once more as the training continued. She was worried that Sigmund wasn't getting much out of it, but he hit a lot more consistently than a Shadow did, so he was giving her a good workout. Hopefully this wouldn't tire them out before the court...

Although JP hadn’t, for whatever reason, accepted her offer to help, it had seemed to her like her efforts had paid off regardless in the end; after having heard what she had to say, JP had practically hopped over tables to get to Mana, and instantly pinned him to a wall! That was what happened in countless movies between lovers. Sofiya had left them alone after that and decided she’d show the pictures later, as she hadn’t wanted to be in the way of young love. Even… if she had still been really worried about JP for being gone so long. She really needed that chance to ask him if he was alright. Brooding all alone was never the answer to anything; she, if anyone, knew.

The rest of Sofiya’s afternoon and evening had been spent wherever her feet and her – in many ways – curious mind had taken her. Part of her had wanted to go back to the dorm building and get some sleep, but seeing how many times she had been late from meetings because of oversleeping, she had decided against it. No matter what, she would arrive on time to the meeting tonight. It was the Russian girl’s next big goal, and whenever she set her mind on something, you could according to her ‘bet your butt’ she wasn’t going to give up on it.

So, around four hours before the meeting, when Sofiya had almost dozed off while waiting, she had instantly jumped up, startled. No, falling asleep would not do. She refused to make a single mistake more, especially after the last court. So the girl had decided to make all the gears in her mind work and come up with a way for her to stay awake despite herself. And any idea that had hopped up, she had tried. She had dipped herself into the local water fountain because water was supposed to make you feel refreshed, she had pinched herself until she had a bruise on her left arm because that’s what people did in movies to make sure they weren’t sleeping and, after coming across a particularly convincing add for energy drinks, she had hopped into the nearest store to get a bunch of them.

As expected, the results were… interesting. The girl certainly didn’t feel sleepy anymore – and suspected she wouldn’t in the next few days – but her comprehension and cognitive abilities sort of fell through the floor to an alltime low. The rest of her day after that had practically consisted of nothing but random passersby making surer she didn’t kill herself – or anyone else – on accident, and trying to explain to her concepts as simple as “walk when the light is green, don’t when it’s ****ing red” and “stairs are meant to be climbed on your feet, not your hands.”

Luckily, by the time the meeting started, the Russian had calmed down quite a bit. There was still some hyperactivity and rambling going on, but it hardly deviated from the norm. She just used more words and gestures than normal, and had an exceptionally hard time staying still for more than a few minutes. She figured it was alright though, and was proud. She definitely wouldn’t fall asleep now. Sleeping felt like such a foreign concept to her now anyway.

And, incidentally, so did waiting. So, the second she stepped into the stadium and found out she was supposed to tell their newest ally about her fighting style, she wasted no time in jumping to a combat pose, knife outheld and form lowered.

“I start like this, see? I go all low, so the enemy can’t hit me, and I keep my knife like this in front of me and all sideways, so then, so then when I slash and cut and stab-,” she demonstrated said attacks with her knife, not noticing the man inching away from her with every slash, “and then the enemy goes all ‘wahhhh’ and I go ‘yaaay’ and Horus goes ‘meh’ – he’s always so boring, you know, you know? So, um… anyway, the enemy can’t hit me because the knife is there and I can block with it and, and and I can stab them if they get too close and I have Horus and he can freeze stuff to death and make them blind so it’s easier for me to go stabby stabby!”

Taking a breath now that she actually remembered she needed one to live, Sofiya quieted down for a while and just nodded.

“And that’s basically it!” She cheered. And, feeling the need to add a few words of encouragement to their new newbie, she continued: “Don’t worry, it might be scary at first, but we’re all here for you, and we’ll protect you! I can’t heal that well, but I’m going to become a doctor so even if I can’t use magic I can still patch people up! I have ducktape at ready, always!”

Sofiya nodded once more and went back into line with the others to wait for further instructions. The training dummies were promising; she really wanted to train a little now that sleep no longer clouded her mind.

It seemed like they were being paired off into training pairs. Sofiya quite liked that thought. Sparring with a real human was a lot better than cutting up dummies and wood, after all. That, and she believed she could not have spent this entire evening without talking to someone some more. It was with much effort she managed to keep herself quiet when the pairs were assigned. Seemed like the caffeine still hadn’t worn off completely, so waiting for her turn was a nightmare.

And so, when the words “Whip him into shape, Commander.” Came out of their teacher’s mouth, Sofiya instantly yanked her hand into an over-excited salute.

“Leave him to me, sir!” She announced. “I will whip him good!”

“So…what do you want me to do?” She heard her newest private ask just then. His tone didn’t carry the enthusiasm she would have hoped, but no matter! She would remedy that reaaally soon! So, turning, Sofiya took a better look at the boy she hadn’t yet managed to talk a lot to. Her eyes were strict and her expression serious as she evaluated the other with her gaze, one hand on her hip and one cupping her chin in thought.

And, after she was finished with studying him, only one adjective swirled around in her mind, wanting to be let out her mouth. One word to describe the boy. One word to say it all.

One word she just couldn’t contain anymore.

“Cuuuuuutttteee!” She finally burst out in a high-pitched squeal that would have undoubtedly been the death to any window near her were there any. She launched herself at the boy – who, she noticed, was even slightly shorter than her – and rubbed her cheek against his, pinching him and ruffling his hair and not being able to stop even when she continued: “You’re so cute! Cute, cutey-cute! I will call you Private Cute! You’re so small, so tiny, oh, oh, do you want to be Private Tiny instead? That can work! How old are you? Oh, wait, how are you in our school..? Oh! Oh, you must be one of those genius kids who are like the best at everything except talking to people right? Aw, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll teach you how to talk to people and-“

It was in the middle of her caffeine-induced ramble that Sofiya remembered this was no time for unsightly displays of affection. She wasn’t supposed to be Sofiya now. Testa had referred to her as a Commander, so Commander she would have to be. Mixing work and play was one of the worst mistakes a military man could do! As a Commander, she needed to set an example and be a role model to those under her; what would Mana say if he saw her like this?

So, letting go of the kid, Sofiya took a few steps backwards and cleared her throat.

“I mean…” She began, voice just a tad deeper. “Your cuteness will not do!” She declared, finger pointed. “Not in the battlefield, Private! You can’t hope to woo the enemy with your appearance alone, that is a tactic most defin… delfin… dolphinately to fail! You can only trust your own skills out there! Understood?! If so, drop down and give me fifty! And then do the same but on your fists! And then on your fingers, each one of them, one after another! If a finger breaks, you patch it up and continue! There’s no rest in war and no timeouts in duels! And once you get up-“

Sofiya grabbed her knife and swung it into position in her hand, nodding as she pointed it towards the boy.

“The real training begins.”

"I am not a bad man
Even though I do bad things
Very bad things
Such horrible things"

“Oh yes, darling, demonstrate,” Mana drawled. “You know how much I love it when you swing that big sword of yours.”

JP’s face went completely red in a matter of seconds. Whether from frustration or some deeply repressed homoerotic embarrassment is anyone’s guess. Now his big manly pose - and by extension his whole entrance - was ruined, merely the setup for a homo punchline. The big teen felt the ground crumbling beneath his feet, his whole image collapsing with it. Something badass, threatening and imposing needed to be done.

“Well… It’s- umm… Th-…I jus-…
“Your mother likes it, too!”

Smooth, man. Real smooth.

Facepalming at how much his comebacks had suffered from his lack of social interaction over the last month - not to mention the heavy amounts of sleep withdrawal - JP turned his back away and just… tried not to think about how much of an *** he just made himself pass by. Luckily for him, Jones soon insulted him in a completely different way and effectively took his mind off this.

“Josh, you're with JP. If you're both new to being swordsmen, I want you to work together here. But first, I need to talk to JP, if he doesn't mind. It's about something he said earlier today.”

“NEW to swordsmanship? I’ve been practicing martial arts all my life! I was pretty much BORN with a sword in my hands!

“Damn it, Mana, if you so much as hint at another phallic joke I swear to God I WILL pin you down and make you WISH all those rumors were true!”

And with that, he burst off back into the van, signaling for Jones to follow him. Evidently frustrated, he never even looked at Jones during his initial statements, feigning he was too busy looking for wooden practice swords to look at his teacher directly.

“Yeah, about what I said earlier… Remember when you met me, last night? I’d just gone from visiting Terry at the hospital. I imagine Wulfgard filled you in about her, Diego and the other bunch of… casualties?”

JP broke his attempt at some distance by looking at Testa’s reaction to this in between pushing a stack of medieval spears to the side. Ignoring the discomfort in his face, he continued his speech as he reached for a group of wooden swords he felt would do the trick.

“Regardless, while I was there - and don’t ask why I went there during the Court, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision - I ran across Shinai. He… Listen, he’s really not normal. He’d broken into the blood bank and came out with quite a few sacs of blood, and when I tried to confront him…”

JP stopped what he was doing and submissively looked down at the floor, embarrassed of admitting what he was just about to say.

“Well, I only got one sucker-punch in. I took him down, but he stood back up and overpowered me like I… like I was nothing! Seriously! I think that guy did something, I definitely felt a weird vibe off him, and I’m not just saying this cause I’m trying to excuse the fact a scrawny kid like him toppled me. Something REALLY odd happened. Oh, and when I approached him, he was distant, weird, and I could swear I’d heard him talking to himself. Now, unless he’s found a way to awaken his Persona without some sort of Evoker…”

JP retrieved two wooden swords he had been eyeing and made his way back to where Josh was waiting for him. “Well, that’s all I can really tell you at the moment. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some sparring to do before midnight.”

<//Back with Josh //3

Once he was within distance, JP threw one of the wooden swords at Josh, secretly hoping he’d botch the catch and embarrass himself from the get-go. He readied his pose, holding the sword with both hands right in front of him, his grip firm, and he taunted the other boy.

“Fair warning: I’m not really in the mood to take it easy today. I have a lot of frustration I need to vent and frankly the Shadows can’t come soon enough. So you better keep up.”

The teen wasted no time in getting serious. He raised his sword high and lunged forward, sweeping down with his sword, being careful to aim at Josh’s torso and not his hands (for all his rage, he didn’t want anyone injured during sparing. He remembered how well that went for him last time).

"Hey, it's not about being the strongest or most skilled," pointed out Halberd to Joshua, "but about being satisfied with the skills you have. And I personally have seen how much skill you have with that sword." Naturally, Joshua just kind of reddened a little, muttered a quick thank you and slunk off. It was a nice compliment really, but Halberd was a much better fighter than him. Joshua was still fairly lacking in power behind his strikes, though he had agility at the very least.

So with the group having explained their various abilities to Jones, he partnered them up for a bit of training before the Court began. Something of a warm up. Couldn't hurt, right?

“Josh, you're with JP. If you're both new to being swordsmen, I want you to work together here. But first, I need to talk to JP, if he doesn't mind. It's about something he said earlier today.”

Then again... Ah balls. This was going to suck. JP didn't seem enamoured by the idea either from his reaction, though he more seemed to resent the fact that Jones implied he was a novice. So he was about to spar with someone bigger than him, stronger than him, more experienced than him, and probably much more skilled than him with a weapon he was largely unfamiliar with. Wooden swords weren't exactly designed for fencing... He probably should've mentioned that to Jones in hindsight.

So how was this even going to be fair? Hoo boy. As JP headed over to talk with Jones, Joshua began doing a few stretches. No point pulling a muscle over this after all... It wasn't too long before his opponent was back, and tossing him a sword. He came so close to fumbling the catch that he just knew it was a terrible omen. Yeah, he was about to get the crap kicked out of him. Fabulous. Well, then again, it was only training, maybe JP would take it easy?

“Fair warning: I’m not really in the mood to take it easy today. I have a lot of frustration I need to vent and frankly the Shadows can’t come soon enough. So you better keep up.”

Or not. Joshua briefly questioned the logic of beating the crap out of one of the group's main healers in the Court, since if he went down, somebody else might not be getting back up... But in either case, he readied his stance in the same manner as JP. "Fair enough I suppose. Well, whenever you're- WhoamyGod!" Yeah, he wasn't wasting any time and immediately lunged at him with a powerful overhead strike. It was only by luck that Joshua managed to bat the strike away as he ducked to the left, and prepared his own strike, aiming for JP's side.

Originally Posted by scytherdude30
no no no you need an empoleon as your powerhouse da listen to me man I AM THE BOMB

Originally Posted by Zincspider

Yes, someone is getting 'killed'... HOORAY FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!....

Mana smiled lightly as JP stumbled over his words. Needling the poor bastard was almost too easy, especially compared to someone like Ciara. Your mom, honestly. It was almost pitiful. JP stormed off, suitably cowed, and Mana turned away, back toward Izzy. He looked about as enthusiastic as a man who had been threatened with castration. It seemed as if that was all too common these days. What a shame. “Ah, don’t look like that, Izzy. It’ll be good for you to get some training in.”

“How about I just go get a training dagger,” Izzy sighed.

Mana just rolled his eyes and followed to grab a training weapon of his own.

The smaller boy was on the defensive. He was blocking and dodging well, but his attacks were half-hearted and his eyes were almost dull. Izzy’s heart wasn’t in the training. On the other hand, Mana bore a fierce grin as he fought. Sofiya was eccentric, but certainly a good teacher with the blade. Either you learned quickly, or you lost body parts. Important ones.

Izzy glanced up, his lights blinding the older boy. Mana grunted as Izzy jabbed at his side, the wooden tip bouncing off of his ribs. The blow had been weak, however. Izzy was scrawny, but even he could do better than that. While hurting each other was a bad idea, the total lack of enthusiasm was clearly apparent. This defensive wrangling wasn't going to be much help to either of them at all. Mana sighed. “C’mon, man. If you’re feeling sick, or if there’s some s**t weighing you down, I’m cool with that. But the Shadows aren’t gonna give a damn. You’re a Crimson Beast, aren’t you? Fight!”

As Izzy stepped back, Mana struck low, driving the point of his practice dagger toward Izzy’s thigh with – slightly – unnecessary force. He wanted it to smart, not break anything. Dia was no good for wounds accrued before midnight. “I’m no charismatic leader like Randy. I don’t know what to say to you, Izzy. You don’t have to fight on the front lines, but if something gets past Captain Compensation and co., you might have to. And if you half-*** things, you’ll get someone hurt: maybe you, maybe someone else.”

Lace peeked and shuffled over to Randy, getting a closer look at his sneakers when he spoke up. "On your mark!"

"Those look pretty cool, Randy."

"Get set..."

"Is that Featherman on the side? Hey, you still watch that? Coo-"

"Go!" She coughed up the field's turf with Randy shooting off to the first curve. Lace stood up and started to walk towards the shrinking boy. She cupped her hands and started to jog. "'Ey! My lips are sealed!"

She could just make out those goggles Randy had on the back of his neck. Lace really wanted that pair and getting winded was far off until those things were strapped around her forehead. Randy turned the second corner of the field, but Lace was now two bodies away and gaining. For someone who's in band all the time he was in surprisingly good shape. She was just behind him now, close enough to send him a nice kick. She squinted and finally capped her hand over his shoulder. The initial start of the race had set Lace's stamina at a comfortable pace. She shot quick looks about the field, still with her right hand on his shoulder when she tried to get in and whisper. "H-Hey! You-," she stumbled and scrambled back up to his side. "New rule!" she pointed at him, now finally a few feet ahead of him.

"Tomorrow at breakfast! I'm, I'm wearin' those goggles at your table, 'n guess who's buyin' dessert!" Lace slapped him hard on the back and stuck her tongue out at him before ducking down to sprint. The street lamp was posted in the grass just outside of the field's tape. Lace took one last look back at Randy and nearly lost her balance crossing the finish at the half-way gap. Nearly rolling into herself, Lace crawled at the field and kept going. The Star arcana card made its appearance for a moment and was punched into pieces. Lace's stamina was finally catching up when her knees down to her shoes were consumed in flames.

The fire gave Lace the luxury of taking small and gentle steps that were not only fast, but saved her effort. She leaned closer to the ground and off the field, coming to the pole from the side. A small bush she shot by was starting to smoke and Lace held her arm out with a guilty expression. "It's not like they're going to know it was us, right?" Lost in her inner conversation the light from the lamp rushed over her. The light dazed her and with her eyes shut Lace's arm caught around the pole and swung her up in circles.

Ten minutes later, Randy stood next to Lace squating down in the track. She tried her best to brag some more about her eagle-like skills, but the fact that it wasn't a clean jump held her tongue. Too tired to get up she yanked on his leg few until he noticed her outstretched arms. "Help me up?" she pleaded. With one eye still open she clasped his hand and rose partway up. "I don't mind sharing the spoils, but you got to let me put sprinkles on yours, alright? Doesn't matter what kind it is! 'N don't say the rainbow and pink kind are too girly for you or anything," she frowned. Lace brushed off her jacket and stepped behind Randy to wipe him off still mumbling too herself.

Last edited by Vivian_Bloom; 14th March 2013 at 10:58 PM.

On Army-Training Leave:

I'll be gone from Serebii/Internet from Sept 10th - Dec 15/16th. If you want to contact me, send a PM by the first of September. Coolio!

The freshman was a little happy that Sofiya seemed to be at least taking this training session seriously but more nervous as she appeared to be a little too enthusiastic about taking a commander like role. Russell just stood still as her strict and serious eyes examine him. He tried to mentally prepare for whatever training she may tell him to do…

“Cuuuuuutttteee!” Her voice ear-piercingly shrieked out after she stood there staring; and he didn’t know about anyone else, but he was definitely thrown off. He ended up freezing from the sudden surprised as he was suddenly hit with wave of different actions. Such as rubbing her cheek against his, pinching and ruffling up his hair; actions that normal made him quite angry, but his mind couldn’t keep up. Attempt of mental preparation failed. “You’re so cute! Cute, cutey-cute! I will call you Private Cute!”

“What?!” was all Russell could response to that. The redhead didn’t know if he should be happy that at least a girl called him cute or be insulted at the fact that her cute was more of a ‘that’s a cute puppy’ kind of cute. The boy himself was unsure what expression was being express on his face but he felt like he was embarrassed enough to be blushing. Hopefully that was not the case and if so that it was too dark or far of a distance for anyone else to notice.

“You’re so small, so tiny, oh, oh, do you want to be Private Tiny instead? That can work!” Tiny, but were about the same- “How old are you? Oh, wait, how are you in our school..?” I’m the right age for- “Oh! Oh, you must be one of those genius kids who are like the best at everything except talking to people right?” That’s definitely not the case, I’m not- Argh… “Aw, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll teach you how to talk to people and-”

By the end of these statements and questions the boy was definitely fuming on the inside as well as wondering how old she thought he was. Yes, he was short but he didn’t think he looked like he was an elementary age kid… When he thought about it, he hadn’t really grown since around then… That was frustrating, maybe a little depressing. But he didn’t really have much time to worry about that as he was surprised by Sofiya abrupt stopped mid-sentence. Whatever was going through her mind… it seem she might have upset or maybe... disappointed? It gave him a minute to compose himself a bit. Russell was released from the upperclassmen grasp and then she stepped back.

“I mean…” His foreign homeroom classmate spoke in a deeper voice, “Your cuteness will not do!” She suddenly declared and pointed at him. “Not in the battlefield, Private! You can’t hope to woo the enemy with your appearance alone, that is a tactic most defin… delfin… dolphinately to fail! You can only trust your own skills out there! Understood?! If so, drop down and give me fifty! And then do the same but on your fists! And then on your fingers, each one of them, one after another! If a finger breaks, you patch it up and continue! There’s no rest in war and no timeouts in duels! And once you get up- The real training begins.”

The boy ended up staring for a moment. She seemed perfectly serious about the whole breaking his finger thing. He didn’t like that, the redhead wasn’t an expert on exercises but he was pretty familiar with the human body and fingers weren’t made for holding a large amount of weight. He actually didn’t weigh that much but still… Maybe it was the serious glint in her eyes or the way she was holding and pointing that knife, but Russell decided that he would at least attempt.

Doing normal push-ups was easy enough, he been doing it for nearly two month now. They were done in a quick fashion and he barely broke a sweat. On his fist was a bit more of a challenge mostly because he never thought of doing them like this. It seemed to require a bit of balance and it hurt a bit having his body weight on his fist on the hard stadium ground. He could still deal with that and was able to do his fifty there. Then he tried the finger push-up… All he could say after one was ouch. He even gave it a full attempt he felt pressure on his finger that should not be felt. He stopped, moved into a sitting position and flexed the finger; it was warning him now that this was a bad idea. The redhead was certain people could do this but he didn’t know how to do it without risking injury. He looked at Sofiya with a frustrated and angry glance that seem a bit of defiant though he was really just wondering if she seriously expect him to do this.

The seriousness was still strongly planted on her face… Russell didn’t want to test the chance which was the girl’s actions, especially not today when he was feeling a bit off. But then again hurting himself in a warm-up wouldn’t help him any, broken fingers would take a few weeks to properly heal and he would have difficulty doing most tasks. The boy didn’t need things to be more difficult, so he would have to confront her… He would never admit he was a bit intimidated by the glint in her eyes and the shine of the blade in her hand, but he took a deep breath and stood up from his spot on ground.

“Commander ma’am, sir” Russell decided to going along with the whole military thing as he thought she probably respond better to it, “Requesting to replace this exercise for another. I am unable to currently do it properly and I would like it if I didn’t injury myself.” He tried to make it clear that he didn’t want to get out of the exercise more than he simply didn’t want to get injured doing it. “I could continue after injuring myself, sir, but my effectiveness in training will drop and I will fail to show the full strength of my skill when it really matter, sir. I want to be at full strength when real battle begins.”

After explaining how he felt about the whole thing he continue to stand at a bit of an attention. Waiting for her response, he didn’t know what to expect but he thought she would be angry at him. That was something Russell was more accustom to anyways. He just hoped this won’t hurt too badly.

Let's eat Grandma!
Let's eat, Grandma!
Commas saves lives.

Say hello to Rascal, he is a naughty little Articuno but he wants to be a true adventurer one day. Feed him lots of spicy berries and help him grow big and stronger.

During tests people look:
Up for inspiration
Down in desperation
Left and right for information

OOC: Sorry for my absence... hopefully I'll be more available to post in the coming weeks.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Halberd
Bellow High Stadium, Night (but not midnight!)

Halberd was actually happy about the training assignments, because A) he really didn't feel like dealing with JP now (in fact, he kind of chuckled to himself when his homeroom teacher considered him a less-experienced swordsman), and B) he got to train directly under Wulfgard-sensei, which he considered a great honour. It also meant he didn't have to deal with sparring with one of Saint Bernard's immature fans in the fencing club. Of course, he knew Wulfgard was more familiar with kendo-style swordfighting than actual fencing. Halberd saw this as a disadvantage in his case, since fencers spar on a narrow strip rather than having an entire two-dimensional field to work with.

After a proud gaze at Russell for having finally mentioned his aptitude with a rapier, Halberd walked right up to Goofy--I mean, Wulfgard-sensei... gee, he never thought of him as goofy before; maybe that was just Testa's weird way of teasing him. Teachers probably teased each other a lot, right? While facing him, he grabbed a wooden sword from out of the van--it was easy to find, as if Wulfgard-sensei had deliberately brought it out so it was easy for him to grab it. After exchanging a brief nod with the elder sword-fighter, he followed him out into an open space a safe distance away from where the others were practicing, and where hopefully no stray arrows would hit them. Those Annoying Arrows.

The first thing Halberd did was hold out the wooden sword, getting a feel for it and swinging it around a bit.

"This sword weighs about the same as the one I use for fencing," he remarked, "but it seems much more evenly distributed, like holding a stick. I've never used a wooden sword before, or any wooden weapon for that matter. This should be interesting. It also has no bell guard and cannot glide as easily as a steel blade can, so I have to be aware of that..."

And then he turned his attention to his sparring partner.

"So, Wulfgard-sensei. Normally if I was training someone new to fencing, I would start with a bunch of tutorials and side-by-side practice sessions, but since you are also experienced, probably moreso than I am, why don't we get right into the sparring. In fencing we usually shake hands before each bout, but since you're the kendo captain and my elder, we shall bow instead."

And so he did, not too heavily, but enough to have his waist-length braid roll over his right shoulder. After tossing said braid backwards again, he sank into his knees and assumed a fighting stance, placing his left hand on his hip as he would in saber fencing, and entending his sword, not directly at Garret, but just a little off-centre. Halberd remembered stressing this position to beginners in the fencing club, especially since many of them were eager to point their swords directly at their opponent's heart. Halberd usually told them that this presented a bit of a threat, and was a bit of a more advanced stance.

"En garde!" Halberd called shortly after. And then, once Wulfgard-sensei had readied his own sword, "Then let us begin."

As usual, Halberd waited for Garret to make the first move, keeping his arm slightly bent in preparation to do whatever intuitively came to him next.

(OOC: Second page? EFF THAT NOISE! I'm going back to the glory days where I wrote you guys a paragraph frequently and you were happy about it.)

Izzy Simone

“You don’t have to fight on the front lines, but if something gets past Captain Compensation and co., you might have to. And if you half-*** things, you’ll get someone hurt: maybe you, maybe someone else.”

'Someone else... because of me?'

“Survive.”

Izzy didn't even notice he'd been hit a few seconds ago. He was lost in thought.
It was true. Someone else might get hurt or worse... because of him. And for some reason, that scared him much more than the thought of he himself being injured.

“Alright... I'll try.”

Recalling the first time he held a knife, he flipped it into a reverse grip. He felt he could make better use of it this way. Maybe this time he trip and fall on Miyuki. She was on the other side of the field this time after all.
Although... for some reason, the idea didn't make him weak in the knees for once.

WARNING!GM is prone to going for the throat. Poke at own risk. Continued poking or complaining in his presence may result in serious character injury or death. You have been warned.

At this point, she let go and ran down the track, passing him with ease. It wasn't even a contest at this point.

“Wait, dessert? At breakfast? Who even does that? I'll tell you who, Communists!” Randy shouted as she continued the run, and he stuttered to a stop to catch his breath and massage his neck were she had grabbed the goggles.
She's nuts that's for sure. But it had it's own charm about it. Kinda innocent actually.
But he needed to get back to running... not like he was tired of that yet. No-sir-ee... totally fine with it.

Though as he stood, catching his breath and falling further behind, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he began to shudder. He could feel her stare.
Liza wasn't angry often... he'd only known her two months, but he knew that was true. She mostly rolled with the punches. But he'd done something today that he was positive she'd kill him for.
He'd embarrassed her in front of her father... and she didn't seem to be to happy about him running off on his own, either.

Now he could feel her... like daggers in his neck...

“WAIT UP LACE! LET'S... uhh... stick together, yeah!”

There's strength in numbers after all, right?

Court of Miracles(OOC:No, we're not actually here yet, but seeing as Lace summoned her Persona, I'm gonna assume that happened at the beginning of the Court. So, don't skip ahead just yet.)

Well, she flew alright... with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. Well, at least she landed in a bush. Probably prickly as all hell. But better than popping on the ground like a water balloon.
And to think the were having such a good time a few minutes ago...
Alright, that was a lie. He was still having one. It was taking all he could muster to not bust out laughing, pointing fingers, the whole sha-bang.

“Well, looks like you won the bet.” He said, walking up to her. “But at least I'm not the one butt down in a big old bush.” Looking down at her struggling, he nearly lost it. Still, he managed to compose himself, stare at the sky in fake thought, and in a babying tone said “Gosh, that has to be really hard to get out of.” With a quick tug at his pants he finally stared down at her.

"Help me up?" She pleaded, raising her arms and staring at him.
Well, there was no way he could refuse that picture. He held out his hand and allowed her to pull herself up with it.

"I don't mind sharing the spoils, but you got to let me put sprinkles on yours, alright? Doesn't matter what kind it is! 'N don't say the rainbow and pink kind are too girly for you or anything”

“You're sill on that. Don't worry, I don't eat my dessert most of the time anyway. Take it any day you want. Watching you fall was well worth it. Funny as hell.”

Last edited by Zincspider; 15th April 2013 at 9:36 PM.

WARNING!GM is prone to going for the throat. Poke at own risk. Continued poking or complaining in his presence may result in serious character injury or death. You have been warned.

"A'ight, let's call it good," Sigmund declared, dropping his hands to his sides. Barring the part where he almost sprained Miyuki's wrist, the two been going pretty much non-stop with the boxing mitts since Wulfgard and Jones had sent everyone off. Much more than the five minutes he'd suggested - Miyu was a total champion. Even so, what with her being much less of a physical person to begin with, he was wearing her thin. And himself, to be honest. Pretty impressive that she was able to keep up with him that whole time.

Speaking of which, what was it, a quarter-hour to the Court or something? Kinda hard to tell without a watch, but it looked like the others were winding down, as well. Might want to take a breather before everything started going down for the night. To that end, he strolled over to his bag not far off and dropped his gauntlets, reaching in to produce two things in succession. First, a water bottle which he took a long draught from before offering it to Miyuki. The second was a blue plastic bag roughly the size of his face, which he promptly struck across his knee. The pouch went cold in his hand by pulling some science-y as its insides broke1, and he threw the bag to the girl.

"Here. Put that on your elbow. A few minutes and you'll be right as the sun," he said. He twitched his eyebrow as soon as he shut his mouth - that last bit sounded wrong. That wasn't right... "sure as the rain?" Bah. Words. Speaking of which, he hadn't had words with Miyuki in quite a while. Probably due to the fact that they were busy with totally different things most of the time. Now was a good time to fix that. Might as well go for complements. Those had a habit of not backfiring.

"Gotta say, you're way sturdy for your size," Sigmund praised, sticking his wrapped hands in the pockets of his sweater. Then, jabbing, he asked, "So, what's the secret? Been lifting behind our backs? Bones of steel? That's it, you're a robot, aren't you? Knew it." He grinned in spite of himself despite the abysmal quality of the joke.

Man, I've been hanging around Lace and Sofiya too much.

1 Not that he had any clue how the thing worked. He could barely keep up with high school chemistry as it was.

Josh’s swiftness surprised JP. His blow was swatted aside as Josh simultaneously side-stepped and attempted a blow to JP’s side. In a heartbeat JP hopped back twice and immediately counter-swung the practice sword back at Josh, again in a vertical arc. However, this time, he aimed at Josh’s sword. The teen parried the blow, but JP was getting way too excited and was obviously of a superior build. The sheer force of JP’s attacks would send waves of pain through the boy’s arms, soon numbing them, or worse.

Or so he hoped.

Truth be told, JP wasn’t all that used to fighting a fellow human sized, anthropomorphic, sword-wielding enemy. He was much more used to fighting anamorphous blobs of darkness or odd beasts, or anything not people-shaped. This... was good practice. It toned up his reflexes and would teach him to mind his speed and swiftness more than his brute strength, and would better prepare the next time he’d ever have to face a non-transforming Shadow Self.

And that last thought was what kept him from ever getting tired or even slightly fatigued. The notion that he was practicing and becoming a better opponent against the likes of his own Shadow Self - so far, the only Shadow Self to both not transform into a hideous beast yet still capable of fighting (to his knowledge) - galvanized him and made him restlessly pummel down on Josh.

The poor kid couldn’t have landed a worst sparring partner.

“Keep it up! I don’t want to slow down!” he taunted, ushering whatever shred of primitive violence was buried deep down within the boy. He wished to bring forth Josh’s inner beast, his own momentum exciting him to a state where JP’s inner bull cried out for a worthy adversary, forgetting of the many the proceeding night would surely bring.

JP’s blows themselves changed the longer the fight lasted and the more excited he became. They got progressively more brutal, faster, but less linked. Though one came faster than the other and there was barely any time between a hit and the next, there came a threshold where JP didn’t connect one swing from the next, and simply threw whatever he had at Josh. Luckily, he still had enough mental focus to plan where it was he was hitting, but his excitement was surely getting the better of him.

While he and Ciara were doing stretches and some exercises to step aside quickly, Snow was able to get glances at how others were doing. Several seemed to be sparring with each other; Sig and Miyuki were being friendly with it, it looked like. But J.P. and Josh seemed to be getting a bit too into it. Snow worried about that, as they still had the Court coming up before long. If either of them got hurt, he might be able to help for a little while, but injuries inflicted now would linger into tomorrow. Hopefully Wulfgard or Jones would break it up before they got too carried away.

It was odd to think about that, and how quickly things could change. It was just now November, but here they were preparing the nightly battles with the supernatural. Most of them had been pretty ordinary students before that (at least Snow guessed that most of the others had been ordinary students). Thinking ahead, he wondered how things would be fighting during the cold of winter. Since they'd be moving around a lot, it shouldn't be much of a problem keeping warm. Ice and wet clothes might be trouble.

Thinking to the past, he wouldn't have imagined he'd be doing this a year ago. He wouldn't have believed it even a few months ago in summer. It'd be a scary story, but not something he'd think was real. And a year ago...

Right. A year ago, he would have been starting physical therapy to walk again. And he had been really weak at the time, having barely survived a car crash in August and then that mess with his aunt. There would have been no way he could have handled something like the Midnight Court back then. Not just in trying to recover physically, but finding himself alone in the world, without any loving family around. Sure, the nurses had been nice to him, but that couldn't make up for the stunning loss.

Wait, he didn't really want to get into thinking about that right before the Court. It could be trouble. He lightly kicked one of his feet against the other, partly to get his mind more focused on tonight. “Oh, sorry, I was thinking of things,” he said, hoping that she hadn't been trying to talk to him.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Mana stepped back, disengaging himself from the fight. He took a moment to catch his breath, eyeing Izzy warily. There was a new flicker of resolve in the boy’s eyes. ****in’ A – pep talk skill up. With a sharp laugh, Mana jabbed at Izzy, dancing backwards all the while. The reverse grip shortened the smaller boy’s reach, making poking him down easier.

Their fight found a steady pattern, and Mana found his thoughts wandering. The Court was tiring, true. It was painful, dangerous, and heartbreaking. But it honed him. It made him better. It was a heady feeling, knowing that if it came to it, he could reasonably pick a fight with anyone. The police officer in his car, the surly looking man on his motorbike, the six-foot-five football player; he could take any of them on! Alright, maybe not, but his bravado was a lot more justified than it was… how many months ago? Mana could barely remember the time before the Court…

A wise man once said something about getting distracted during a fight. That something was “don’t”. An unexpected blow sent the redhead stumbling backward, and he collapsed onto the ground. “Arghgoddammit!” he cried, caught off guard. Instinctively, he hissed a command; “Trafuri!”

Of course, nothing happened. There was no flicker of darkness, no damnable giggle, just an embarrassing tumble into the ground. Mana waved Izzy off, getting to his feet.

“Nice,” he said begrudgingly. “You’re good at this, man. And you’ll keep getting better. We all will.” he paused. “Eh, we should wind down, though. No sense getting too worked up before the Court even begins.”

Mana wandered off, glancing up at the still-normal sky. He glanced at his sadly watch-free wrist, grunting as he double-checked to confirm his state of watchlessness. He felt naked without his Persona, powerless. How much longer would he have to wait until midnight?